A review by gabriellaleblanc
The First True Lie by Marina Mander

5.0

I absolutely loved this piece. The First True Lie is a story of one young, lonely boy who lives with his depressed and detached mother must find a way to make his mother's untimely death go unnoticed because of the deep fear he has of becoming an orphan. His mother's corpse rots in her bedroom at the end of the hall while Luca continues his days as if nothing happened. Luca has one other love beside that of his cat, Blue, and his mother, and that is the love of words. This is a beautifully written, wonderfully descriptive story. Only about 130 pages, this book was a very quick read. Many other reviews mentioned that it felt unfinished, but I think where Mander left off was perfect. She did an amazing job with displaying the thoughts of an eclectic, strong, slightly depressed little boy whose only fear, despite witnessing his mother's dead body on a daily basis, is having to go to an orphanage. Overall, a beautiful story.